Deez

Cr(Abs) & Shoulders

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Date: 10/01/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE.

Pax: Deez, Whirlybird, Bunt, Ruxpin, Toy Soldier, Chattahoochee, Probe, Streudel, Fireplex

QIC: Fireplex

Warm up

Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down.  15 squats halfway to full down.  15 full squats.

Cherry Pickers – 15 IC

Plank Jacks – 30 IC

Cherry Pickers – 15 IC

Windmills – 15 IC

The Thang

Mosey around Mill Street and back to the M&T Bank parking lot.

Each Pax completed the Burp & Merk – Burpee with ascending merkins up to 10.  Each PAX will Bear Crawl to each parking space and complete a Burpee with a hand release merkin.  Bear Crawl to the next space and complete a Burpee with two hand release merkins.   Continue until completing a Burpee with ten hand release merkins.  Nur back to the start and plank for the six. 

Pax continued on over to “Oh Hill No” and completed the bottom feeder/deconstructed toy soldier set exercise.  Crab walk up the hill and complete 100 LBC’s.  Crab walk down the hill and complete 50 E2K’s to one side.  Crab walk back up the hill and complete 50 E2K’s to the other side.  Crab walk down the hill and complete 25 big boy sit-ups.

F3 Message – See below

Mosey back to CHOP by way of Strawberry Alley. A round of Mary was completed to finish out the beatdown.

Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust.  Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayer. 

F3 Message 10/01/24

When You Don’t Like What’s On Your Plate – #8160

Friday, April 20, 2018

One of our team members reminded me the other day of how I felt about junior high school lunches. He was talking about it in our team devotions. Few of us remember those 7th or 8th grade cafeteria lunches with great fondness. Friday wasn’t bad – that was French fry day. But most of the other days – who knows what some of that stuff was – mystery meat! We’d complain about the food, we’d trash the food sometimes, and sometimes we even had a food fight with it! Hey, it’s junior high; what do you want? There were many days I wasn’t too excited about what was on my plate. There still are.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about “When You Don’t Like What’s On Your Plate.”

Okay, this has nothing to do with your diet. I know you have days when you don’t particularly like what’s on your plate though. Or you don’t like how much there is of it. As a parent, you may have to handle some things that really aren’t much fun these days. That’s what on your plate. As a son or daughter, or a student, you’ve been stuck with some jobs you really don’t want to do. At work, it’s getting pretty messy, or heavy, or boring. At church or in your ministry, you’re not particularly liking the way it’s going and what you’re trying to do for the Lord. But it’s just part of life – days, and sometimes lots of days, when we don’t like what’s on our plate.

So, how are you handling days and tasks you don’t care for? Do you complain about them? That would be the way we normally do. Do you worry about them? Freak out over them? Do you get negative or irritable because of what’s on your plate? Look, we’re not in junior high anymore. It’s time for a more grownup response. It’s time to see what’s on our plate from God’s perspective.

Here it is in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 16:5-6. David says, “Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.” So who decides what’s on the plate of a child of God? Your Heavenly Father who loves you totally and does everything perfectly! Sometimes God’s assignment is exciting and energizing, sometimes it just seems sort of humdrum and mundane, and other times God’s assignment is downright hard – like when He assigns you to a sickbed or an unappreciated, dirty-work job or working with someone who frustrates you or annoys you.

But there is a peace, there’s this lightness in your spirit – even a strange joy – that can come when you look at today’s plateful and say, “Lord, You have assigned me to this.” Which leads us to that powerful formula for being emotionally and spiritually on top of things, instead of things being on top of you. It’s in James 4:7 where the Lord says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” In other words, submit to the Lord’s greater plan, His greater wisdom – “OK, Lord, I’m going to handle what’s on my plate as if it came right from Your hand.” The result? Well, you have resisted the devil’s attempts to discourage or distract or detour you.

In fact, since the Lord assigns you your portion, you can actually thank Him for it, looking expectantly for what good things He wants to bring out of it. What’s God working on through this? Does He want you to be more of a servant? More patient? A better listener? A learner? More sensitive? 

See, whether or not you particularly like what’s on His menu for you today, you can be sure it is for your good – it’s part of His loving plan for you. What’s on your plate is OK – because the One who put it there loves you so much. Oh, by the way, knows exactly what you need.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

Abs-so-posa-lutely

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Date: 09/03/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

PAX: Deez, Whirlybird, Ruxpin, Chattahoochee, Probe, Streudel, Fireplex

QIC: Fireplex

Warm up

SSH – 20 IC

Bolt 45’s – 15 squats to halfway down.   15 squats halfway to full down.  15 full squats

Cherry Pickers – 15 IC

Jiminy Crickets – 10 OYO

Windmills – 15 IC

Hydraulic Squats – 10 IC ( 6 Count)

The Thang

An Inclined Toy Soldier Set was completed on the grass hill behind the stone parking lot – 100 LBC’s, 50 E2K’s x2, 25 Big Boys OYO.

Pax completed one lap around Mill Street and back to the flag pole at the Firehouse.

Captain Therkin – 1 big Boy to 4 American hammers; 5 Merkins .  2 Big Boys to 8 American Hammers; 5 Merkins in ratio up through 10:40 with 5 Merkins.

Pax completed one lap around Mill Street and back to the flag pole at the Firehouse. A short break was taken for the F3 Message.

Pax finished with a modified Super 21 beatdown for the abs-so-posa-lutely kickoff beatdown. 1 Merkin to 1 Big Boy Sit up.  2 Merkins to 2 Big Boy Situps.  3 Merkins to 3 Big Boy Situps, etc., etc., etc.  Q elected to start at 21 in descending fashion.  All Pax completed the round of 21 descending through the round of 15 of each to complete the beatdown.

Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust.  Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayer. 

F3 Message 09/03/24

Only Two Days On Your Calendar – #4481

Monday, March 15, 2004

Some years ago, my wife got a very serious case of hepatitis. Later, the specialist told her that the battle for her liver was so acute he could hear the blood rushing to save it, “Just like Niagara Falls,” he said. Thank God, she recovered fully with no trace today of that disease or any of its effects. But it took a while – seven months of bed rest. That was an interesting time for Daddy – suddenly known as Mr. Mom – and for our three children. Thankfully, our church brought dinner to our home almost every night. God bless them! It’s a good thing. I mean, if it had been up to me to feed the kids, they probably would have been on the cover of something like World Vision magazine eventually. But as tough as it was, my wife said she had much to praise God for in her recovery from hepatitis. For one thing, no one could really look to her or count on her for seven months. Here’s what she said about it: “God gave me the gift of cleansing my schedule!” He weeded out a lot that didn’t matter after all and left only what did matter.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Only Two Days On Your Calendar.”

If you look at many of our calendars, they are packed to the edges. Some days the date book boxes are just too small to write everything in. Our life is congested with places to go and things to do, and we’re overdosing on stress. We could all use a priority check. We could all use a little schedule cleansing so we can focus our time on the things that really, really matter.

Now I’m no magician. I can’t make your responsibilities disappear, but I can give you a simple grid that may make your life a little more doable. And it’s not my idea. It’s actually Martin Luther’s idea. He said he had only two days on his calendar – one of those is Judgment Day. He tried to evaluate everything in light of the Judgment Day that’s coming for all of us. God talks about that great values-clarifier in 1 Corinthians 4, beginning with verse 2, our word for today from the Word of God. Paul writes: “It is required that those who have been given a trust” – and I just want to add, “we all have” – “must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court … It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.”

If it’s not going to matter there, how much should it matter here? Earlier, Paul talked about things that are just “wood, hay, and straw” that will burn on that day. That’s a priority check.

Luther said he had only two days on his calendar: Judgment Day and this day. It’s the only day I can live right now. I don’t need to be weighed down with yesterday. It can’t be changed. I don’t need to be fretting about the future. I’m not there yet and I can’t control it.

What I have is today, one 24-hour slice of life in which to honor my Lord in everything I do. So this day will count on that day! Maybe that’s what Paul had in mind when he said, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). Keep your eyes on the prize, all day long and each new day.

God will take a life that you have lived for Him with His priorities, one day at a time and He will make a life out of those days that will fulfill you and glorify Him. It’s a great way to live – two days on your calendar: Judgment Day and this day.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

It’s About The Fourth, Not Quattro

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Date: 07/09/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

Pax: Deez, Bunt, Ruxpin, Toy Soldier, Probe, Streudel, Fireplex

QIC: Fireplex

Warm up

SSH – 30 IC

Cherry Pickers – 20 IC

Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down.  15 squats halfway to full down.  15 full squats.

Windmills – 20 IC

The Thang

PAX completed the Hindenburg BLIMPS routine from the exicon. We modified the sprint portion to a straight line up the Chestnut Street Hill stopping at Mill Street for Stopping Points #1 & #3 of each round.  Sprint back down Chestnut Street to Front Street for Stopping Points #2 & #4 of each Round.  Plank it up until all PAX have completed the exercises at each stopping point.  Rinse and repeat until all 6 Rounds are complete. Round # 1 – 10 Burpees, Round #2 – 20 Lunges (10 each leg).  Round #3 – 30 Imperial Walkers.  Round #4 – 40 Merkins.  Round #5 – 50 Plank Jacks. Round #6 – 60 Squats.  Pax completed the rounds through Round #5 as time was a factor.  We ended strong with 50 plank jacks and 60 squats.  

F3 message –The 3rd F was shared after completing round #4.

Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust.  Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.

 F3 Message 07/09/24

DEPENDENCE DAY – #8474

July 4, 2019

They keep it under glass that seals out any air getting to it. And when it’s not on display, it’s kept underground in a vault – actually a bomb proof vault. It’s the most important document in the history of the United States. Yep, the Declaration of Independence.

The men who signed it on that hot July 4th in Philadelphia knew it was very important, but I wonder if they could have possibly conceived what a sacred piece of paper it would become to the nation that it birthed. Here were subjects of the English king, daring to declare their independence from their king. It changed their lives forever. It changed the world forever. And once a year, every Fourth of July, America stops to remember that Independence Day.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Dependence Day.”

Now, for America’s founding fathers, it was a Declaration of Independence from their king that changed everything. But for you, as a child of God, it’s your “Declaration of Dependence” on your King that changes everything.

Now, when it comes to God running our lives, you know what? We’ve all declared our independence. Even if our theology compels us to officially say we trust God, we are, for the most part, “Sinatra-ites.” Yeah, you know Frank Sinatra’s signature song? I’ll sing it for you. No, I won’t. “I did it my way.” Yeah, even for us Christians, that’s often how we really live, I’ll do it my way. We’ll figure this out by ourselves, we’ll find a way, we’ll make it happen, we won’t wait, we’ll get it done now. We tend to depend on our plans, our schemes, our cleverness, our talent, our experience, our persuasiveness, our hard work, our connections. We’ll count on our programs or our own strength.

That’s why we need to declare our dependence daily! It’s in our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus makes it very clear how anything that matters in our life really happens. In John 15:5, Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” In other words, the fruit of your life doesn’t come from you, it comes from Jesus, through you, like the life of the vine comes through the branch.

Then He goes on to say, “If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me, you can do nothing.” Or nothing that matters, nothing eternal, nothing that really works over the long haul – nothing. He doesn’t say, “Without Me, you can’t do much.” No, nothing! He says it all comes from Him.

So the size of your life depends on how big your dependency on God is, as opposed to cranking it out yourself. Joni Eareckson Tada once said that when she went to Africa, she was greeted by believers there who said, “Welcome to Africa, where our God is bigger. He is bigger because we need Him so much more!” Actually, we need Him every bit as much. We just have other things we can depend on. So our lives are smaller because our view of God is smaller, because we don’t depend on Him desperately for each day’s needs, each day’s choices, each day’s strength, and each day’s answers.

You know what the language of dependency is? Prayer. You can pretty much tell how dependent you are on God by how often you feel the need to cry out to Him in prayer. There is so much more waiting for you if you’ll only learn how powerful it is to recognize your powerlessness before God.

Look at the frequency and the fervency of your prayers in any given day, and you’ll be able to tell how dependant you really are on Him. Each new morning, in the presence of Almighty God, you need to sign it again – your Declaration of Dependence on your King, because that signature will make all the difference.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

Go Tell Your Dad

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Date: 06/13/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

PAX: Deez, Quattro, T-Rex, Whirlybird, Drago, Toy Soldier, Chattahoochee, Probe, Streudel, Fireplex

QIC: Fireplex

Warmup

SSH – 25 IC

Moroccan Night Clubs – 40 IC

Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down.  15 squats halfway to full down.  15 full squats.

Windmills – 15 IC

Hydraulic Squats – 10 IC (6 Count)

Mosey from the AO to “Oh Hill No”

Over the Hill Set – Modified Burp Back Mountain  

  1. Split Pax into two groups or if it is a smaller group you can complete it as one unit together.
  2. 1st round the 1st group Nur’s up the hill and mosey back down while 2nd group completes clock merkins on the incline completing 5 reps each at 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, & 9 o’clock. Rinse and repeat until your partner returns.  Switch stations and repeat.
  3. 2nd round the 1st group bear crawls up the hill and mosey back down while 2nd group completes the same evolution of clock merkins. Rinse and repeat until your partner returns. Switch stations and repeat.
  4. 3rd round the 1st group completes the inch worm up the hill and mosey back down while the second group completes the same evolution of clock merkins.  Rinse and repeat until your partner returns.  Break for the message

F3 Message 

  • Final round the 1st group completes the crawl bear up the hill and mosey back down while 2nd group completes the same evolution of clock merkins.  Rinse and repeat until your partner returns.  Switch stations and repeat.

All Pax Nur up and moseyed down the hill Twice to complete the set.

Toy Soldier Set – 100 LBC’s, 50 Y2K’s x2, 25 Big Boys OYO

Mosey back to the AO for the Circle of Trust including announcements, prayer, the Count-O-Rama & the Name-O-Rama.  Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.

F3 Message 06/13/24

THE POWER OF A FATHER’S SMILE

June 14, 2023

It’s important for fathers and sons to do things together – like when my son helped me with the yard work so we could bond. I remember one day when my oldest son was about five. It was a hot day. I was mowing and my son was following around after me clipping. I looked over to him and I smiled. About five minutes later he came over and yelled over the mower, “Daddy, could you please do that again?” I said, “Could I do what again, son?” He said, “Daddy, could you smile at me again? Your smile keeps me going.”

Ephesians 6:4 has some great parenting instructions: “Fathers do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” God says, “Don’t tear your children down. Bring them up.” A father has incredible power to be either one – to make your son or daughter feel inadequate and small, never good enough, or to make your son or daughter feel competent, worthy, appreciated, and valued. It’s clear which one God expects from a father, and from a mother.

In 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, Paul is likening the lives of believers to a positive father. Here’s what he says, “For we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God.” Do you see the verbs there? Three words that are the godly ways of a father – to encourage your child, comfort your child, and urge him or her to live a godly life.

How are you doing? Did I just describe most of the conversations you have with your son or daughter – you’re encouraging, you’re comforting, are you urging? Think about the comments, for example, made years ago by one of President Clinton’s most impressive advisors, a man named Bill Galston. The news article I read back then said he was at the peak of his career when he resigned from his position. No one could believe it! Why?

Well, Bill Galston had worked hard trying to balance time with his ten-year-old son and his hugely significant job. He took his son to his White House office so they could talk while he worked. He even woke up at 6:00 in the morning so they could spend a few minutes together. But Bill was at the breaking point. He couldn’t do both. His son wrote him a letter saying, “Baseball is not fun when there’s no one there to applaud you.”

There’s just no substitute for a father. In the moments that matter to our children: the proud moments, the hurting moments, the amusing moments, the arriving home moments, the serious moments. And there are few sources more influential on earth than your approval of your son or your daughter. Could it be that there’s been too much emphasis on what’s wrong with your son or daughter, on what you want them to improve, on their weak points rather than majoring on the positive?

So much of the sense of security and sense of worth comes from knowing that Dad is pleased with them, that Mom is pleased with them. Focusing on the encouraging, on praising what’s good about them, on noticing even the slightest improvement, on building up not tearing down, concentrating on the things that matter to them. Realize what your most important job is. Bill Galston told the President of the United States, “You can replace me. My son can’t.”

Does your son or daughter need to hear your applause again, see your smile again? Maybe you need to make a new beginning by asking their forgiveness. Or start now to make it your daily mission to build them up, focus on their good points, and give them all of you sometime during that day. Your son or daughter is looking your way for something only you can give them; the smile that keeps them going, because a father’s smile is powerful, life-giving encouragement.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

This One is For Mom

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Date: 05/16/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

QIC: Fireplex

Pax: Quattro, T-Rex, Deez, Bunt, Toy Soldier, Chattahoochee, Probe, Streudel, Fireplex

Warm up

SSH – 20 IC

Cherry Pickers – 15 IC

Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down.  15 squats halfway to full down.  15 full squats.

Imperial Walkers – 15 IC

Windmills – 15 IC

The Thang 

B.O.M.B.S. – 50 Burpees,  100 Overhead Claps, 150 Merkins, 200 Big Boy Sit-ups, 250 Squats.  After every 25 evolutions of each exercise, PAX will NUR up to Strawberry Alley from Front Street and mosey back approx. .02 miles.  Time limited the Nur and Mosey and affected the last 250 Squats.  They were completed without the Nur/Mosey “break”.  When all was completed, Pax Nur’d up the grade & moseyed down approximately .5 miles.

Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust.  Prayers were offered for multiple needs within the attending PAX, but please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.   

F3 Message 05/16/2024

THE MOTHER AND THE MONSTER

May 6, 2010

The tornado sirens went off near our daughter’s house a few nights ago. She knew what to do. She and our son-in-law quickly herded their three children into the basement until the danger passed.

Unfortunately, Nikki Carpenter lived outside of town where she couldn’t hear the tornado sirens. She and her three young sons had no time to prepare, and there was no basement in the trailer where they lived. For me, Nikki’s story seems especially moving on this Mother’s Day weekend.

When part of the storm system that hit our area moved on to Yazoo County, Mississippi, Nikki Carpenter was getting Austin (1), Ethan (2), and Layne (7) ready for their day. The tornado was a monster – an E-F4 packing up to 170 mile per hour winds and measuring 1.75 miles wide. As the tornado bore down on their trailer, Nikki grabbed a mattress, threw it over her boys, and lay on top of it to protect them.

It took neighbors more than two hours to work their way through the debris to get to that trailer – or what was left of it. Those three little boys were pulled out alive. Mom didn’t make it. Her mother said: “She saved those kids and gave her life.”

Here was a mom, doing what mothers do on a daily basis – sacrificing herself for her children. In this case, letting all the wrath of a tornado fall on her so it wouldn’t fall on the ones she loved.

And for me, a moving reminder of the One who covered me so I wouldn’t die. My Jesus let all the wrath of all my sin fall on Him, so it would never fall on me. He died; I lived.

That’s what happened on a cross on a hill outside the city of Jerusalem. Strip away all the religion and all the ritual, and that’s what Jesus is all about. The only Son God has, choosing to lay down His life to save you and me. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:11, 18).

There’s no way anyone could take the life of the Son of God. He made the tree He was nailed to and the men who put Him there. The only way He could die was if He gave His life. And that’s what He did: the brutal ripping of His body with Roman whips, the crown of thorns jammed onto His head, the spikes driven into His hands and feet, and the spear thrust into His side. Worst of all, the hell of being totally cut off from the Father, because He was carrying our sin. Nobody did all that to Him. He let it happen, because it took that dying to pay the death penalty for my sin.

That’s how much He loves me. That’s how much He loves you. He loves you too much to lose you.

So like a loving mother taking the brunt of that tornado, Jesus put Himself between you and the eternal death penalty of your sin. “God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9). Jesus’ sacrifice removes all your sin from God’s book the moment you tell Him, “Jesus, You are my only hope. I’m resigning from living my life my way, and I’m pinning all my hopes on what You did for me on that cross.”

One day I chose to give my life to the One who gave His life for me. Things have never been the same, because Jesus didn’t just die for the world. “He loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20)…and for you.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

Toasted By Streudel

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Date: 05/07/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

QIC: Fireplex

PAX: Deez, Bunt, Ruxpin, Toy Soldier, Chattahoochee, Probe, Fireplex

Warm up

SSH – 20 IC

Cherry Pickers – 15 IC

Bolt 45’s – IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down.  15 squats halfway to full down.  15 full squats.

Streudel Claps – 15 IC

Windmills – 15 IC

The Thang

Beginning at CHOP, all Pax will mosey to Wharton Street and complete Aiken legs – 20 squats, 20 box jumps, 20 lunges (10 each Leg), 20 split Jacks (10 each Leg). Then Mosey to Federal Street and complete 20 Burpees, 20 Squats, 20 Merkins, 20 Big Boys.  Then mosey to Front Street by the PD and complete Aiken legs – 20 squats, 20 box jumps, 20 lunges (10 each Leg), 20 split Jacks (10 each Leg).  Finally, a short mosey to CHOP and complete 20 Burpees, 20 Squats, 20 Merkins, 20 Big Boys.  A break was taken for the F3 message. All Pax will mosey to Wharton Street and complete Aiken legs – 20 squats, 20 box jumps, 20 lunges (10 each Leg), 20 split Jacks (10 each Leg).  Mosey back to CHOP and complete 20 Burpees, 20 Squats, 20 Merkins, 20 Big Boys.  Approx. 1.03 miles were completed for the beatdown.

F3 Message – see below

Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.   

F3 Message 05/07/24

LIGHTING UP AT THE END OF THE GAME – #3017

As a New York Knicks basketball fan, I’ve had some victories and some play-off games to cheer for. But I’ve had my share of disappointments, too. And too many of them have come at the hands of one particular opponent – a player named Reggie Miller. This man has done more to stop my team than just about anybody I can think of because something happens to this man in a close game, when there’s suddenly just a minute or two left. He’s on fire! He may or may not have had a lot of points earlier in the game, but somehow he seems to save his best for last. With time running out, Reggie suddenly becomes a scoring machine, making fantastic shots, often scoring enough points to send my team home for the season. Any player is a powerful force when he knows the end is near and lights up to makes a difference!

Well, I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about “Lighting Up At The End Of The Game.”

You may be at a point in your “game of life” when you feel as if most of the game is behind you. You’ve scored just about all the points you’re going to score. You’re just sort of coasting from here to the end of the game. Well, that is no way to finish your game!

Consider Caleb from our word for today from the Word of God. He was one of those 12 scouts Moses sent ahead to check out the Promised Land before the Jews were to enter it. Ten came back saying, “Giants there! No way!” Two came back saying, “God is with us! Way!” But because of the unbelief of the people, a whole generation wandered in the wilderness for 40 more years until all the adults of that unbelieving generation were dead – except those two believers, Joshua and Caleb. Now, with the new generation taking the Promised Land, Caleb is 40 years older than his first visit there. But is he ready to hang up his sneakers and call it a game? No way!

Here it is. Joshua 14:10. “So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as He said.” Not bad for 85, huh?

Here is one of God’s players who is near the end of his game – but he wants to light up the scoreboard. He says, “Give me that mountain! I’ll take on those giants if they’re in the way of what God wants!” That’s the kind of fourth quarter players that God is looking for! Yes, your body may slow down some, your energy may not be what it once was, but you aren’t dead yet! God wouldn’t be leaving you here if He still didn’t have work for you to do, lives for you to touch, a difference for you to make! In the Holy Spirit’s great outpouring just before Jesus returns, God says in Acts 2:17, “Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.”

Maybe you’ve allowed yourself to slip into a survival mentality, or maybe you’ve become self-absorbed or self-pitying. In the fourth quarter, some people just settle into a reward mindset. “Well, I’ve worked hard all these years. I’ll just settle back and relax now. It’s time just to reward myself for what I did in the first three quarters of the game.” Wait a minute! The game isn’t over yet! We’ll rest in heaven. We’ll get rewarded in heaven. But, for now, we can’t waste any of the all-too-few days we have to serve Christ. As the Apostle Paul neared his finish line, he said he was “poured out like a drink offering.” He wanted to cross the finish line having given so much for his Master that he had nothing left when he collapsed into Jesus’ arms! Don’t you want to do that?

That’s the kind of four-quarters heroes God is looking for. So make up your mind that you’re going to finish your game well. For, as Amy Carmichael said, “We will have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only a few short hours to win them.” And we are in those few short hours.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

HOB Disc Golf

, , , , , , , , / Leave a Comment / CHOP, DE, Milton, DE / By

QIC: Semi

Warm-a-Rama
20 Seal jack i/c
14 seal waves i/c
14 mountain man pooper i/c
14 Michael Phelps i/c
10 hip circles each way oyo
30 Moroccan night club i/c

The Thang

Patriot run to HOB

Frisbee golf
Add 10 to the strokes of each hole
Diamond merkins
Wide Merkins
Pretzel sticks
Burpees
Gas pumpers
Merkins

3rd F
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/Eg7KagTg9ZNRNWTk/?mibextid=5uw8Mq

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/B9muoCrUVZ2m9tcs/?mibextid=5uw8Mq

Mosey back to AO

Number-Rama
NAME-A-RAMA
COT

9 HIM showed today: Semi, Probe, Yukon, TRex, Streudal, Fireplex, Chattahoochee, Bunt, Deez

Merkins Make Me Mad

, , , , , , , , , / Leave a Comment / CHOP, Milton, DE / By

Date: 03/05/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

QIC: Fireplex

Pax: Bunt, Wood, Pooh, Deez, Semi, Woodstock, Ruxpin, Chattahoochee, Probe, Fireplex

Warm up

Merkins – 20 OYO

SSH – 20 IC

Cherry Pickers – 15 IC

 Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down.  15 squats halfway to full down.  15 full squats.

Windmills – 15 IC

Imperial Walkers – 15 IC

The Thang

Super 21 Routine – 21 Merkin & 21 Big Boys, 20 Merkins & 20 Big Boys, 19 Merkins & 19 Big Boy’s, repeat until completing 1 of both.  Equals 231 of each exercise. 

Spartan Run Routine – Run/sprint 100 yards (modified to 50 yards) and drop and do 15 merkins.  Plank until all PAX are complete.  Wosey back to the start.  Run/sprint 100 yards (modified to 50 yards) and drop and do 15 merkins.  10 reps for 150 merkins for the exercise (Totals 150 if 10 reps of 15 are complete).

A total of 401 merkins for the beat down includes the 20 completed on the warm-up.

F3 Message 03/05/24

THE ANGER MONSTER – #9437

March 14, 2023

As an airline passenger, those video images from the Los Angeles airport that day were just plain disturbing: a human stampede, terrified passengers, fleeing from a gunman on the loose in the terminal.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Anger Monster.”

These explosions of violence have happened in a theater, a mall, a school, an office, a church. The bullets may start flying any place, leaving behind lost and shattered lives. And you can be pretty sure the person pulling the trigger is an angry man. Whose anger – often hidden from those who know him, one day erupts like a volcano, destroying whatever is in its path.

My sense is that there are a lot of angry people around us these days, seething inside, sinking into a darker and more dangerous place each day. You see it surface as road rage, angry parents at their kids’ games, frustrated shoppers, bullies at school and on the Internet creating anger in their victims.

Usually, behind anger is pain. Angry people feel wounded, wronged, unheard, victimized, and taking it out on whoever inadvertently pushes their buttons. Many times there are, in fact, things in their past that have left them broken inside, but never with an excuse to wound or do violence to someone else because of it.

I suppose, at one time or another, each of us is the angry person. Not on a rampage to end lives, but angry enough to inflict some serious damage on people around us. Most often the people we love the most.

Mount St. Helens in Washington used to be considerably higher until she literally blew her top in an eruption one day. The eruption didn’t last long. The damage? That’s there forever. Underlying a lot of our explosive moments is this full glass thing. If I pour water into a half-empty glass, it will take quite a bit to make it spill, right? But if I’m going through life with a glass that’s already full, it only takes a drop to make it spill. And there are plenty of “drops” in a day’s time; aggravations, conflict, and difficulties.

And with the spill comes the lashing out. Usually the violence is the verbal kind. The world’s best-selling book, the Bible, describes it as “reckless words (that) pierce like a sword.” See, long after the wounder has forgotten, the wounded carries the scars of that anger.

Part of the problem is that some of us were raised to stuff our emotions. We don’t deal with them. That’s what fills up the glass. The time bomb’s going to keep ticking until we make room in that glass, which means taking a bold healing step; facing that pain that we’ve stuffed in our closet. It’s the match that keeps lighting the fuse of the anger and leaving a trail of burn victims in our wake.

It may mean walking through the pain with a counselor. Or digging deep into spiritual resources for the most liberating step a wounded person can take – forgiving. Even seeking forgiveness from those who’ve been the victim of my anger.

Maybe the kids are right. There actually is a monster in the closet, a wounded monster, who needs to be dragged out into the light so the healing can begin. Ironically, it is often the “monsters” that we can’t control that drive us to a greater power; someone who has repeatedly proven He can subdue the dark forces that control us. The dark side is what drives me to Jesus Christ.

When He was on earth, He encountered a man in the grip of forces so dark no one could control him. And it says, “He tore the chains apart… No one was strong enough to subdue him.” No one except Jesus. He expelled the “evil spirit.” And the man ended up “sitting at Jesus’ feet… in his right mind” (Luke 8). Jesus is still doing miracles like that, fixing what’s broken inside us, transforming the evil inside us. That victory over our darkness cost Him his life at the cross.

Our word for today from the Word of God, Revelation 1:5 says, “He loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood.” Today He wants to bring peace into the angry storm in your life if you’ll open the door of your heart to Him. How to do that? Go to our website. You’ll find it there – ANewStory.com – and let Him begin the transforming relationship that tames the monster inside.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

2/21/24 Coupons and Wheelbarrows

, , / Leave a Comment / DE, First Town, Lewes / By

QIC: Semi

Warm-a-Rama

21 Ssh i/c
12 Seal wave i/c
21 Cherry picker i/c
Capri lap around upper parking lot
Side shuffle out, nur across, side shuffle in, and mosey across
21 Windmill i/c
12 Plank Jack i/c
21 Seal Jack i/c
2nd capri lap around upper parking lot
Side shuffle out, nur across, side shuffle in, and mosey across

THE THANG

Each HIM grabs a coupon and line up at end of alley

With only 3 HIM we teamed up and 2 HIM held the legs of the HIM doing the wheelbarrow

wheelbarrow to gym door, wosey to start
12 burpees
Wheelbarrow to gym door
12 burpees, wosey to start
Coupon barrow to gym door, wosey to start
21 Abyss merkins

3rd F
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/CpxcuNaPiQWLjx61/?mibextid=xfxF2i

United and freedom course

Number Rama
Name Rama
Cot

3 HIM showed today: Semi, Hump Day, Deez

Dumb Spelled B.O.M.B.S.

, , , , , , , , , / Leave a Comment / CHOP, Milton, DE / By

Date: 02/06/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

QIC: Fireplex

PAX: Ruxpin, Wood, Bunt, Chattahoochee, Probe, Deez, Semi, Streudel, Fireplex, Looney Tunes

Warm up

SSH – 20 IC

Bolt 45’s – 15 squats to halfway down.   15 squats halfway to full down.  15 full squats

Cherry Pickers – 15 IC

Imperial Walkers – 20 IC

Windmills – 15 IC

Mosey approx. .25 miles around the Mill Street block back to CHOP

The Thang 

B.O.M.B.S. – 50 Burpees,  100 Overhead Claps completed as a single count SSH with an Overhead Clap, 150 Merkins, 200 Big Boy Sit-ups, 250 Squats.  PAX partnered up and worked on exercises while partner Nur’d up the Chestnut Street hill to Mill Street and ran back down.  Each PAX should try to complete their half of the listed exercises.

F3 Message  

Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust.  Prayers were offered for multiple needs within the attending PAX, but please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.   

BUFFALO RIDING – #4578

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

I love to drive through Custer State Park in South Dakota because if you’re lucky you get to see a lot of buffalo. Now, seeing them is one thing – riding them is another. We were recently in South Dakota. One important part of our ministry, of course, is reaching what one researcher called the most devastated young people in America, and we were there for an outreach among Native American young people. Reservation young people are in just great need of the Lord. We were with our Lakota Sioux Christian brother and we saw some buffalo, and we joked a little bit about hunting them, and so on. Then he said, “You know, I know someone who rides buffalo in parades and on holidays.” I said, “Wait a minute. Did you say rides a buffalo?” I can’t imagine boarding one of these wonderful wild animals. Well, somebody asked this buffalo rider, “What’s it take?” He said, “Patience.” Then he said, “If you neglect him one or two days, he won’t be tamed anymore.”

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Buffalo Riding.”

Our word for today comes from Romans 7:19. It talks about the buffalo inside you and me – a wild beast that does not want to be tamed. Verse 19: “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” Verse 24, “What a wretched man I am!” Paul says. “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” It’s pretty hopeless up to this point. And then here’s the good news. “Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

There’s an animal inside me that wants to go against God. The hymn writer says, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it … prone to leave the God I love.” We know what God wants. We want it too, but we keep choosing to let that part of us that gets out of control run us. We can’t tame it, but we’re not without hope. There’s a Savior, not only from the penalty of sin, but from the power of sin. Romans 6 says, “sin will no longer be your master.” When we surrender that wild part of us to Jesus, He begins to tame what has always ruled us. But you can’t tame it once and for all. It takes patience, like the buffalo rider said.

Luke 9:23, “Take up your cross daily, and follow me.” If you neglect that buffalo, that animal inside of you one or two days, well, he won’t be tamed anymore. That sin has beaten you. And it has to be beaten now on a 24-hour basis. Twenty-four-hour little victories. Some of us have made the mistake of thinking that one great spiritual experience would tame the buffalo once and for all. But it keeps getting away from us again. It keeps riding over us. We miss the daily part.

If you conquer sin one day at a time, and if Jesus is the only one that can conquer it, then it stands to reason you have to be with Jesus each new day. You notice something that happens consistently when you miss a day or two of your time with Jesus. The dark side of you starts to surface again. I see it happen to me. I see traits that I was seeing less of, and suddenly I start seeing more of it again and so does everyone else close to me. It’s as if that daily surrender time with Jesus is the only dam that holds back the parts of me I hate. You miss being with the Savior from sin, and the sin starts to leak back in. You need a consistent get-together with the Lord Jesus where you again make Him Lord of your stubborn sins.

That’s largely the margin between victory and defeat because we’ve all got a buffalo to tame. Let him go unattended for a couple of days, and that sin will stampede right over you again. But you can ride the buffalo that has ridden you by daily turning over the reins to the one who died to tame the animal in you – the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

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